Curious Palette is brought to you by the team from Strangers Reunion. The serve a variety of fusion dishes and deserts. Their owner also came in top in the 2015 World Siphonist Championship, so expect good coffee here.

User Ratings Summary

User rating summary from: 4 user(s)

super decadent pancake, better to share though

Curious Palette is an Australian inspired cafe situated along Prinsep Street, located at the opposite direction of Strictly Pancakes.It’s a little hard to spot the cafe since there isn’t any obvious signage. The entrance to the cafe looks really tiny but once you walk in, the place is surprisingly sizable and pretty.

The coffee here disappointed me. I wasn’t sure if it was just an unlucky day but the milk was too cold and the coffee tasted strange. The ricotta pancakes on the other hand, was out of this world. Crispy on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside. They were really generous with the toppings and berries too, which was really lovely.

Optional Information:

An Inventive Café with Interesting Combinations.

Curious Palette is Stranger’s Reunion’s latest concept, and they specialize in breakfast, brunch and café offerings. I visited them one day for a dessert stopover, and was impressed by their quirky takes on traditional café food.

As I’ve heard several rave reviews on Stranger’s Reunion’s waffles, I decided to give Curious Palette’s Buttermilk Waffles a shot. I loved the mix of textures in the Gula Melaka, Coconut Cream ($14.50): vanilla bean ice-cream, thick fragrant coconut cream, sweet red beans and crunchy roasted peanuts. This local twist was ingenious with the flavors melding wonderfully. However, I felt let down by the base waffle itself, which was served slightly cold and lacking in a distinct buttery aroma. A good waffle dish should always rest on its base.

Their Smoked Salmon on Sourdough ($17.90) is atypical of your traditional Eggs Ben. The incorporation of hazelnut béarnaise, cranberry-spiked cream cheese and walnut crumble lends the dish a subtle earthiness, and adds a layer of complexity to its overall profile. I’ve heard mixed reviews from some of my friends though, and it looks like consistency is the main complaint at Curious Palette.

Curious Palette is creative and innovative with their menu offerings, and I find their takes on café staples to be very refreshing. However, they do need to work on maintaining the quality of their food. In my opinion, consistency > creativity.

Beautiful food that tastes as good as it looks

Curious Palette is so hipster they don’t even have a signboard. They have a blackboard outside with “Curious Palette” written in beautiful cursive outside. The whole cafe is soaking in a very artsy vibe, and this extends to their food though.

The plating of their dishes is beautiful. It is clear that the kitchen puts immense efforts into designing their dishes. If you are looking to fill up your instagram page, this is the place. Furthermore, there is an abundance of natural light in the shop, with skylights and sky wells scattered around, so you can still get natural light even if you are not by the window.

Their food also tastes as good as they look. We tried the Berry Ricotta Hotcake, at it was the most delicious pancake i’ve ever eaten. Their waffles were a little lacking though, as they were too mushy.

Curiosity killed my palate

I thought I wouldn’t be able to find a waffle as bad as Marble Slab Creamery’s anywhere else, but it was curious (pun intended) that I managed to find a close contender in a much raved about cafe.

The visuals were good, which sent my expectations flying even higher. But as my knife sank into the waffle without a ‘crunch’, my heart sank along with it. The waffles were not crispy at all, and were mushy instead of fluffy. They turned soggy quickly as the ice-cream melted, making it very unappetizing halfway through.

The entire experience was disappointing, especially since its quirky name and classy interior had me looking forward to its food even more.